3. This is the last part of my collection of impressions about the 339 amp.

How does it sound? First, I would like to let you all know that I did not spend enough time on listening to the 339 amp in this visit. I did not bring my own music there so that a critical performance test was not possible. Among all the music disks available there, only one was familiar to me. However, I can definitely say I liked the sound of 339 immediately. The setup in their shop was not ideal. The play back system simply consisted of a very old but high level Panasonic DVD player, a 339 amp, and 4-5 pairs of headphones. I only used the better phones in my listening: a pair of Sennheiser HD 600 and a pair of Audio Technica W1000. The 339 amp performed beautifully with both headphones. One thing I would like to emphasize is that the sound of 399 was very well balanced. Mr. Deng also told me the 339 amp had no difficulties to drive both the low Z and high Z headphones and I thought he was right. We spent more time listening through the Audio Technica W1000 than the Sennheisers.

Since I was busy looking around in the workshop, my friend listened to the amp all most all the time during our visit. My friend had no high-fi experience at all and was amazed that a headphone sound system could produce music so beautifully. My friend even asked me to postpone the leaving of the workshop so that she could finish a song she was listening to. She was also amazed when I told her how much this simple system might cost, especially the headphones.

I did not buy the 339 amp in the visit and now I am regretting a lot! Before the visit, I did prepare to buy one. In fact, Mr. Deng offered me an attractive price I should have jumped to. The decisive factors for me not to buy it were the size of the box and my trip. I had to visit several other cities after Chengdu, and the huge package containing the 339 was not easy for carrying on and I did not want to ship it. I should have been a little more brave, and should have just got it shipped along with my trip. Well, looking forward to my next trip to Chegdu ….

I never listened to 337 before. However, I was told that the 339 is based on a circuit similar to 337 with a few improvements. More importantly, I think that 339 has a better implementation such as better location of tubes for reducing the hum and it uses better parts such as the output capacitors.

I am usually rather picky about sound systems that is why I have modded almost every single equipment of mine including the 4 headphone amps. However, I feel that I cannot offer any concrete complains about the performance of the 339 amp after I listened to it in my visit to the workshop. Maybe that was because I did not have my own test music and headphones with me to perform a real test. Even though I spent 2-3 hours there, I did not listen to the amp much. I should have spent more time on it. Hope people have this map can offer more solid opinions.

I was told that the original Dark Voice Company split into two. The company making 339 cannot produce 337 any more due to legal constraints even though this company knows how to make it. This Company hence decided to produce an amp better than 337. This company’s decision deserves my praise. First, a better amp is good for all of us. Second, obeying the law makes it standing out from those ignoring laws. It is not a secret how some companies are operating there (no flame about this, please).

I received the 339 today from Yuking. WOW that was fast... less than one week to the CONUS. Incidentally, he also had the best price as well. Everything was extremely well packed and the amp came with a nice looking converter plug to enable a wider use of tubes (ef80). I would highly recommend that anyone purchasing this unit do so from Yuking direct, as both Boyier and Audiophile China were unable to obtain the amp and I ended up losing over a month of time combined waiting to hear from them.

A quick initial listen with the stock tubes and hd600's confirmed that it sounds very similar to the 337 with stock tubes. Powerful, neutral, and very smooth. Best of all, absolutely dead silent with no hiss or hum at even the highest output. I hope to do a more detailed listening and review after some break-in.

Great news! I knew I missed a good opportunity to have this beautifully looking amp during the summer. Another stupid thing was that I did not take a camera with me during me summer trip to the workshop.

A quick initial listen with the stock tubes and hd600's confirmed that it sounds very similar to the 337 with stock tubes. Powerful, neutral, and very smooth. Best of all, absolutely dead silent with no hiss or hum at even the highest output. I hope to do a more detailed listening and review after some break-in.

Quick photo for now:

Pretty ...

You have 337? sorry, you don't put in your Profile so I can't see.

Quote:

Originally Posted by npdang

Interesting... from a look at the internals and past comments made by Yuking (single ended cathode follower vs. push pull) it would appear that the 339 is an entirely different amp than the 337?

I don't think it is push-pull.... I try to route the tube wiring from some pictures on the net... more like the two triodes on 6AS7 are just paralled, with cathode follower output (OTL) to the headphones via some capacitors...

what I'm not sure is whether the tube driver connected to the 6AS7 as an anode follower or as SRPP...